Like all conference commissioners, Sun Belt boss Karl Benson trumpeted his league’s football teams during media day in July.

He said it was a league on the rise, getting better and was ready to slug it out with any of the non-BCS conferences.

“The competitive gap between us and others has shrunk considerably,’’ Benson said. “The Sun Belt is poised to contend to become the best of the so-called non-AQ conferences, which are our peer conferences.”

But it was taken with a grain of salt. After all, this was the same conference that has ranked at the bottom of the 11 FBS leagues for years.

On Sept. 8, however, Benson’s pronouncement didn’t seem all that far-fetched. That’s the day that the University of Louisiana-Monroe went to Little Rock and knocked off the then-eighth-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks 34-31 in overtime.

A week later, the Warhawks took Auburn to overtime, losing 31-28. Then the following week, ULM had a shot to beat Baylor, falling 47-42.

Last week, Middle Tennessee knocked off Georgia Tech by an impressive score of 49-28.

Not to be outdone, Western Kentucky laid it to the University of Southern Mississippi 42-17 and beat Kentucky 32-31.

All of the sudden, the Sun Belt isn’t the skinny kid on the beach getting sand kicked in his face anymore. They’re showing some muscle now.

So what’s the difference?

“I think it’s the overall talent level in the league,’’ said ULM Coach Todd Berry, after his team thrashed Tulane 63-10 last Saturday. “I think the coaches do a great job. But I think what everybody has done is they’ve grown their program.

“We’re not any different than we were a couple of years ago. Our system isn’t any different. We’ve just grown up. We’ve matured. Sometimes what people perceive to be the lower conferences, you end up playing with a lot of young guys, there’s attrition. Right now, we’ve had a chance to kind of grow these guys.’’

The maturation of those players is evident, with ULM as a good example.

The Warhawks feature quarterback Kolton Browning, a 6-foot-1, 194-pound junior, who got no collegiate offers in high school other than from ULM. But Browning is a master of the Warhawks’ offense. He makes good reads, has a good arm and great touch. This is his third year to start at quarterback and the experience he earned as a freshman and sophomore is evident this season.

“Everybody in our offense knows the system and we work well together,’’ Browning said. “And we have fun playing those (bigger) teams. It’s a challenge we look forward to.’’

University of Louisiana-Lafayette Coach Mark Hudspeth said the league is getting more attention this year because of the high-profile victories against SEC opponents.

“If you go back to last year, we had some good victories, we went 6-3 against Conference USA,’’ Hudspeth said. “The only difference is the (Arkansas) woke everybody up. It brought out the media attention.’’

Hudspeth thinks part of the reason for the Sun Belt’s rise could be the limitations the SEC has on how many players it signs every February. SEC schools can now sign 25 players on signing day, a rule initiated two years ago.

Before that, SEC schools would regularly over sign by four-to-five players.

“That means now that you have 56-60 players that aren’t signed by SEC schools that are available,’’ Hudspeth said. “That can make a big difference.

“And, without that, we get some very good players in the conference that kind of defy the recruiting rankings.’’

Middle Tennessee Coach Rick Stockstill said being on television helps as well as the conference universities improving and building new facilities.

And Benson said it’s only a matter of time before one of the Sun Belt football squads becomes the next Boise State.

“One of messages across the league is why not be that team that takes center stage?,’’ Benson said. “To play on New Year’s Day in a big bowl against a big opponent and bring credit to the university and to the Sun Belt. There’s no doubt in my mind that there is a team in the Sun Belt that will achieve that in the next two to three to five years.”